Thank you, this is very useful!
I expect to refer lots of people to this post
Thank you, this is very useful!
I expect to refer lots of people to this post
This list is great. I recommend adding the new Intro to ML Safety course and the ML Safety Scholars Program. Or maybe everyone is supposed to read Charlie's post for the most up-to-date resources? It's worth clarifying.
Added it. Thanks for pointing it out :)
you can usually find small online projects throughout the year
Where?
Update on the project board thing - I'm assuming that was referring to this website, which looks really awesome!
https://aisafetyideas.com/
Nice. It looks pretty good indeed! I'll submit something in the near future.
Wow, the site mentioned looks fantastic
(I don't know anything about AI safety or longtermism) but just to repeat the discussion above, this site looks great looks great.

There's probably considerations, founder effects and seeding of content, but this implementation seems like a great pattern for community brainstorming for other causes.
Imagine getting THL staff and other EAs going on a site for animal welfare or global health.
There is no official place yet. Some people might be working on a project board. See comments in my other post: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/srzs5smvt5FvhfFS5/there-should-be-an-ai-safety-project-board
Until then, I suggest you join the slack I linked in the post and ask if anyone is currently searching. Additionally, if you are at any of the EAGs and other conferences, I recommend asking around.
Until we have something more official, projects will likely only be accessible through these informal channels.
Thanks mariushobbhahn this is helpful. I just signed up to the newsletter.
The AGI safety fundamentals fellowship leads to a broken link, and the amount of googling I've done to find the actual page, suggests that the website is actually down.
Is there any way something can be done about this?
Maybe it's this? https://aisafetyfundamentals.com/
There are a ton of good resources for AI safety out there. However, conversations with people trying to get into the field revealed that these materials are often unknown. Therefore, I want to provide a very basic overview of how to start. My claim is that a person who invests ~2-3 hours a week to study the recommended material will have a good understanding of the AI safety landscape within one year (if you are already familiar with ML you can get there in ~3 months, e.g. by doing the AGI safety fundamentals fellowship). This post is primarily designed for people who want to get into technical AI safety. While it might be still helpful for AI governance it is not specifically geared towards it.
I want to thank Jaime Sevilla, Alex Lawsen, Richard Ngo, JJ Hepburn, Tom Lieberum, Remmelt Ellen and Rohin Shah for their feedback.
I intend to update this post regularly. If you have any feedback please reach out.
Updates:
When I look back on my own (still very young) journey in AI safety, the biggest bottlenecks were not the availability of resources or a lack of funding. My biggest bottlenecks were my own psychological barriers. For example, I had vague thoughts like “AI safety is so important, I’m not up for the task”, “If I dive into AI safety, I’m doing it properly--fully focused with a clear mind” (which meant I always delayed it) or “AI safety is so abstract, I don’t know where to start”. To be clear, I never explicitly and rationally held these beliefs. They were mostly subconscious but nevertheless prevented me from doing more earlier.
I think there are a few simple insights that make joining the field much easier.
Lastly, there are some simple tips that make the start of your journey easier and more fun
The first five are sorted broadly by how much background knowledge you need and the rest is harder to order.
If you want to contribute more seriously to a project there is a good chance you can get funded for it and you should have a low bar for applying. Even a rejection is helpful because it provides feedback for improvement. The funding depends a bit on your background, current career stage and exact topic but it’s important to know that the opportunities exist (copied from Richard Ngo’s Careers in AI safety):
I hope this little overview helps. Let me know if you profited from it or if you have suggestions for improvement. If you have more questions on AI safety, feel free to reach out or hit me up at any EA events I attend. I can’t promise that I’ll always find the time but I’ll try my best.
If you want to be informed about new posts, you can follow me on Twitter.
Thanks mariushobbhahn, very useful. You summarised all my own hesitations.
I have bookmarked a number of resources, signed up for a newsletter, and have more clarity over what my next steps should be (which includes seeking more help).
Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I definitely benefitted.
Great. Thanks for sharing. I hope it increases accountability and motivation!